Toggle actuated switch operator using cams as release means



Oct. 12, 1965 G. E. LUSK ET AL 3,211,870

TOGGLE ACTUATED SWITCH OPERATOR USING CAMS AS RELEASE MEANS Filed Dec. 19, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Mb ZZZ) 1NVENTOR5- fieoiye E @155, floL zardl mrz mz,

Oct. 12, 1965 G. E. LUSK ET AL 3,211,870

TOGGLE AC TUATED SWITCH OPERATOR USING CAMS AS RELEASE MEANS Filed Dec. 19, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR5 Oct. 12, 1965 E. LUSK ET AL 3,211,870

TOGGLE ACTUATED SWITCH OPERATOR USING CAMS AS RELEASE MEANS Filed Dec. 19, 1962 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR5 fieorge [la /p, fiowardfi'fwawazz,

GEM 44Mmr% United States Patent Office 3,211,870 Patented Oct. 12, 1965 3,211,870 TOGGLE' ACTUATED SWITCH OPERATOR USING CAMS AS RELEASE MEANS George E. Lusk, Downers Grove, and Howard E. Swanson, Chicago, Ill., assignors to G & W Electric Specialty Company, Blue Island, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed Dec. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 245,717 3 Claims. (Cl. 200-153) The invention relates to electric switch structure and has reference in particular to mechanical operators for electric switches which will have toggle action for performing the switching operation.

The main objective of the invention is to provide a mechanical switch operator of the toggle type wherein the coil springs for the toggle structure will be fully compressed for storing maximum energy therein before a releasing action takes place to effect rotation of the switch blade operating shaft, and wherein said device will be trip free so that when said releasing action does occur the switchrnan is not able to slow down, stop, or reverse the rotation of said switch blade operating shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanical switch operator of the toggle type wherein the mechanism of the switch operator will include latching means of such construction and arrangement as to prevent toggle action for rotating the switch blade operating shaft until the coil springs of the toggle are fully compressed. Accordingly, the switch operator of the invention will store the maximum amount of energy in the coil springs of the toggle arrangement so that when released it will rotate the switch blade operating shaft in a positive manner, and at a high rate of speed.

A more specific object resides in the provision of a twoposition snap action switch operator of the character as described which will include a pair of latching levers for latching the operator against movement in opposite directions respectively, and for releasing the operator for movement also in directions which are opposite as regards the respective latching levers, and wherein said latching levers are resiliently urged in a latching direction, and are automatically cam actuated into a released position by an element of the toggle arrangement.

With these and various other objects in view, the invention may consist of certain novel features of construction and operation, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the specification, drawings and claims appended thereto.

In the drawings which illustrate an embodiment of the device and wherein like reference characters are used to designate like parts- FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of switch structure for three-phase circuits and which incorporates the mechanical switch operator of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view taken substantially along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, the switch blade of the mechanism being shown in open position;

FIGURE 3 is a front elevational view approximately on line 33 of FIGURE 1 illustrating on a slightly enlarged scale the toggle arrangement of the present switch operator and which is shown in a right hand actuated position;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view of the switch operator as illustrated in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view similar to FIG- URE 3 but on a smaller scale and which shows the switch operator in a left hand actuated position;

FIGURES 6, 7, 8 and 9 are front elevational views similar to FIGURE 5 showing the switch operator in various operating positions from a left hand actuated position to a right hand actuated position; and

FIGURE 10 is a sectional view taken approximately centrally through the locking plate and base toggle member and showing the relation of the several parts to the oscillatable shaft.

The switch structure selected for illustrating the present invention is shown in FIGURE 1 as comprising a double break oil switch for three-phase circuits and wherein the movable switch blade of the mechanism will have oscillating movement in an arc of approximately sixty degrees between a switch open position and a switch closed position. The switch mechanism is housed in an oil tight housing 10 having side walls 11 and 12, a connecting bottom wall 13, end walls 14 and 15, and a removable top wall 16 which is conveniently secured in assembled relation to the side Walls by the securing screws 17. A plurality of terminal members having a casing of insulating material surrounding a metal conducting element and respectively designated by the numerals 18 and 22, FIG- URE 2, are suitably supported by the bottom wall 13 so as to extend from the exterior of the housing 10 to within the housing. Inside the housing the terminal members 18, 18a and 18b at their respective ends have suitably secured to their conducting element 19 a contact element 20 which terminates in a stationary contact 21. The terminal members 22, 22a and 22b, FIGURE 2, likewise extend through the bottom wall 13 of the housing and each said member includes a conducting element 23 to which a contact element 24 is secured at the projecting end thereof within hte housing, the same terminating in a stationary contact 25.

The terminal members 18 may be considered as having their conductor elements 19 connected to the incoming conductors of the power line, with the terminal members 22 being considered as connected through their conducting elements 23 to the outgoing conductors of the power line. Connection and disconnection of the incoming conductors with the outgoing conductors is effected by the movable contact blades 26, 26a and 26b. The blades 26 are rotated as a unit through an arc of approximately sixty degrees between a fully closed and a fully released switch position. The shaft of the switch structure which carries the movable contact blades 26, 26a and 26b is shown in FIGURE 1 as including a left hand end portion 28 and a right hand end portion 30. A plurality of insulators 31, 32 and 33 of ceramic material or the like, are interposed between the left and right hand end portion of the switch operating shaft as is also the toggle arrangement of the invention generally designated by numeral 40, and the movable switch blades 26, 26a and 26b as described.

End portion 23 of the switch operating shaft extends through the bearing 34 located in wall 11 and said end portion projects beyond the bearing for receiving the crank handle 35. The crank handle 35 is suitably fixed to the shaft portion 28 so that rotation of the crank handle will rotate the shaft portion and thus the cocking lever of the toggle arrangement to be presently described in detail. The end portion 30 of the operating shaft is suitably journalled at 36 by wall 12, and the insulators 31, 32 and 33 are located on respective sides of the contact blades 26 to complete the elements comprising said shaft. The blades 26 are suitably fixed to their respective insulators to form a rigid assembly. The said assembly is fixed at insulator 31 to the base toggle member of the toggle arrangement 40, and at insulator 33 the shaft is suitably fixed on the shaft end portion 30. Accordingly it will be understood that any rotation or oscillating movement of the base toggle member will be imparted to the contact blades 26 to cause them to engage with or be disengaged from the stationary contacts 21 and 25.

When the elements of the toggle arrangement are positioned as shown in FIGURES 3 and 9, the movable switch blades 26 will be disconnected from their respective stationary blades, such disconnected position being shown in full lines in FIGURE 2. When the elements of the toggle arrangement are positioned as shown in FIGURE 5, the movable switch blades 26 will be located as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2, the same having a closed circuit position with the respective stationary contact blades 21 and 25. The elements of the toggle arrangement have been designed to oscillate the movable contact blades 26 in a positive manner and with a rapid snap acting movement. The toggle arrangement is also tripfree and latching levers have been provided to effect a full compression of the power spring of the toggle arrangement before the base toggle member is released for oscillating the movable switch blades.

The toggle arrangement 40 and the unitary shaft assembly including the insulators 31, 32 and 33, and the movable switch blades 26 are supported at the toggle end of the shaft by the supporting plate 41 which is suitably fixed in spaced relation to end wall 11 by means of the supports 42. The shaft 28 at its end within the housing extends through the hub portion 43 which is integral with the cocking lever 44. The hub portion 43 is instrumental in fixedly securing the cocking lever 44 to shaft 28, and thus the cocking lever can be oscillated by actuation of the crank handle 35. The cocking lever has an inwardly directed flange 45 at one end and a cam portion 46 at its opposite end, and said lever is located on the side of the supporting plate 41 adjacent the wall 11. The shaft 28 continues through the supporting plate and through a locking plate 48 which is located on the opposite side, that is, on the inside of the support 41. The shaft 28 is free as regards plates 41 and 48, and thus the locking plate is free to rotate on the shaft independently thereof. The end of said shaft extending beyond plate 48 receives the washer 49 and the cotter pin 50 which functions to retain the locking plate in place. The said plate is generally circular in shape except for a protruding formation 51 and the ratchet teeth 52 and 53 located on respective sides of the base toggle member 54. The said base toggle member has a lower generally U-shaped bottom portion 55, FIGURE 10, which extends under and overlaps the plate 48, being fixed to the plate at 56. As a result of the bottom formation 55 of the base toggle member 54, it will be seen that the main body portion of the member is spaced from the locking plate and a guide block 57 is located between the spaced parts. Pivot pins 58 and 59 retain the guide block in place. Pin 58 passes through an opening in the upper end of the base toggle member and into the guide block. In a similar manner pin 59 passes through an opening in the formation 51 of the plate 48 and into the guide block. The guide block is thus pivotally mounted, and for purposes to be presently described the said block is formed with a transversely extending central passageway 60.

The latching levers 62 and 63 are pivoted to the supporting plate 41 at 64 and 65, respectively. Each latching lever is in the form of a U so as to have a leg disposed on each side of the supporting plate adjacent the lower edge of the plate. For pivotally mounting the latching levers on the plate 41, the pivot pin thereof extends through both legs of the lever and through the mounting plate. The leg of each lever disposed adjacent the inside surface of plate 41 is thus in alignment with the locking plate 48, and in accordance with the invention the said levers, by means of their aligned legs are adapted to have locking engagement with the ratchet teeth 52 and 53, respectively. Also, it will be understood that the tooth engaging leg of each latching lever is resiliently urged into contact with the peripheral edge of locking plate 48, and thus into locking engagement with the ratchet teeth, by the coil springs 66 and 67. Coil spring 66 is fixed to plate 41 by the pin 68 and said spring is fixed to the latching lever 62 by the pin 69. The coil spring 67 is connected in a similar manner to the plate by the pin 70 and to the latching lever 63 by the pin 71.

The toggle arrangement is completed by the power coil springs 72 and 73, the smaller spring 73 being disposed within the larger and more powerful spring 72. Both springs have encircling relation with the guide rod 74, the said rod being mounted between the cocking lever 44 and the base toggle member 54. For this purpose the upper spring seat 75 has a fixed connection to the guide rod and the projecting end of the guide rod extends through an opening in the flange 45 of said cocking lever. The opposite end of the guide rod merely passes through the lower spring seat 76 and also through the passageway 60 to project beyond the guide block 57. Accordingly, the guide rod 74 is free to move longitudinally with respect to both the lower spring seat 76 and the block 57.

When the movable switch blades 26 are positioned as shown in dotted lines in FIGURE 2, wherein the ends of the movable switch blades are in physical contact with the stationary contacts 21 and 25, respectively, the elements of the toggle arrangement are positioned as shown in FIGURE 5. In this position of the toggle arrangement the contacts of the switch are thus closed and the locking plate 48 is held and locked against rotation in a direction which would effect opening of the switch contacts. The cocking lever has contacted the stop pin 78 and the lever 62 is in locking engagement with the ratchet teeth 52. The camming end 46 of the cocking lever has engagement with latching lever 63 holding the lever spaced from the periphery of the locking plate and thus rendering the lever inoperative.

The elements of the switch structure and the elements of the toggle arrangement will remain in the positions as described as long as it is desired to maintain the contacts of the switch in closed relation. For opening the switch the cocking lever is oscillated in a clockwise direction, FIGURE 5, by actuation of the crank handle 35. After initial clockwise movement of the cocking lever, the parts will assume the position as shown in FIGURE 6 wherein it will be observed that the camming end 46 of the cocking lever has been moved out of contact with latching lever 63. Thus the tension of coil spring 67 will cause the latching lever 63 to engage the periphery of locking plate 48.

As oscillation of the cocking lever 44 in a clockwise direction continues, the same will eventually pass through a dead center position wherein the cocking lever and the base toggle member are in alignment. When these two elements are aligned, it will be understood that the power coil springs 72 and 73 of the toggle arrangement are compressed to a maximum extent. In FIGURE 7 the cooking lever has just passed beyond dead center position, and thus it will be understood that the power coil springs are substantially fully compressed so as to store the maximum amount of energy in the toggle arrangement. Also, in FIGURE 7 it will be observed that the camming portion 46 of the cocking lever has engaged the latching lever 62 at a point above its pivot pin 64. Further oscillating movement of the cocking lever will effect such camming of the latching lever 62 as to move the lever out of locking engagement with ratchet teeth 52. This position of the parts is shown in FIGURE 8. When said lever 62 is cammed out of locking engagement with the locking plate 48, the toggle arrangement is operative to cause rotation of the locking plate and also the base toggle member connected thereto in a counterclockwise direction, FIGURES 8 and 9. This counterclockwise rotation of the base toggle member will produce similar rotation of the shaft assembly including the movable blades 26 and the contacts of the switch are accordingly opened.

FIGURE 8 illustrates an important feature of the present toggle arrangement since it shows that the lever 62 has been cammed until it contacts the bottom portion of the base toggle member. Further camming will take place as evident from FIGURE 9 wherein the lever 62 has been cammed until it engages portion 55 of the base toggle member and through said member the lever 62 effects movement of the locking plate 48. In actual practice the parts can be so designed as to produce from eight to twelve degrees of rotation of the locking plate. Since this rotation takes place in advance of or simultaneously with the toggle action the effect is to overcome the initial resistance of the movable blades to movement in an opening direction. At least this camming action as effected by the cocking lever 44 and the latching lever 62 is such as to assist in the initial opening action of the switch and which is then taken over completely by the compressed toggle springs.

The action of the toggle arrangement is positive and extremely rapid, since the contacts of the switch are opened by a snap-acting motion. Also, the action of the toggle is trip-free in that after the latching lever 62 has been cammed into a released position as regards the teeth 52, it is not possible for the switchman to either stop the opening action of the movable switch blades 26 or to slow down said movement or to reverse the same. When the movable blades 26 are opened the elements of the toggle arrangement are positioned as shown in FIGURE 3 wherein the latching lever 63 now has locking relation with the ratchet teeth 53 and the lever 62 is cammed out of contacting relation with the periphery of the locking plate. When it is desired to close the switch contacts a reverse operation is effected, namely the crank arm 35 is actuated to oscillate the cocking lever in a counter-clockwise direction from its position as shown in FIGURE 3.

The invention is not to be limited to or by details of construction of the particular embodiment thereof illustrated by the drawings, as various other forms of the device will, of course, be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claims.

We claim:

1. In a mechanical operator for electric switch mechanism, in combination, an oscillatable shaft, a cocking lever on said shaft, said lever having a flange portion at one end and having a camming formation at its opposite end, a locking plate supported on the shaft for rotation independently of the cocking lever, a generally L-shaped base toggle member connected to said locking plate, a

guide block supported by the locking plate and base toggle member and being eccentrically located as regards the axis of the shaft, a coil spring extending between the flange portion of the cocking lever and the guide block, whereby the cocking lever can be oscillated in either direction for compressing the coil spring, a latching lever on each side of the locking plate, and resilient means for each latching lever for rendering the lever operative to engage and lock the plate preventing rotation thereof in a toggle actuated direction as the cocking lever is oscillated, said camming formation on the cocking lever having such action as to effect a camming of that latching lever in looking contact with the locking plate to release the plate only after the cocking lever has been oscillated to an extent to fully compress the coil spring.

2. In a mechanical switch operator as defined by claim 1, wherein ratchet teeth are provided on each side of the locking plate on the periphery thereof for coaction with the latching levers respectively.

3. In a mechanical switch operator as defined by claim 1, additionally including switch structure having switch blades for coaction with stationary switch contacts, said switch structure having a connected relation with the base toggle member so that the switch blades have rotation along with the locking plate and base toggle member when the same are toggle actuated, and said camming formation when in camming action with a latching lever producing movement thereof to in turn effect limited movement of the base toggle member and switch blades before toggle action takes place, whereby resistance to initial movement of the switch blades in an opening direction is overcome.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 648,555 5/00 Ely 200 X 2,002,587 5/35 Sachs 200l62 2,599,272 6/52 Minneci et al 20070 X 2,974,540 3/61 Bertling 20048 2,995,043 8/61 Lusk et al 7497 3,043,924 7/ 62 Johnson 20048 3,095,489 6/63 Baird 200153 BERNARD A. GILHEANY, Primary Examiner, 

1. IN A MECHANICAL OPERATOR FOR ELECTRIC SWITCH MECHANISM, IN COMBINATION, AN OSCILLATABLE SHAFT, A COCKING LEVER ON SAID SHAFT, SAID LEVER HAVING A FLANGE PORTION AT ONE END AND HAVING A CAMMING FORMATION AT ITS OPPOSITE END, A LOCKING PLATE SUPPORTED ON THE SHAFT FOR ROTATION INDEPENDENTLY OF THE COCKING LEVER, A GENERALLY L-SHAPED BASE TOGGLE MEMBER CONNECTED TO SAID LOCKING PLATE, A GUIDE BLOCK SUPPORTED BY THE LOCKING PLATE AND BASE TOGGLE MEMBER AND BEING ECCENTRICALLY LOCATED AS REGARDS THE AXIS OF THE SHAFT, A COIL SPRING EXTENDING BETWEEN THE FLANGE PORTION OF THE COCKING LEVER AND THE GUIDE BLOCK, WHEREBY THE COCKING LEVER CAN BE OSCILLATED IN EITHER DIRECTION FOR COMPRESSING THE COIL SPRING, A LATCHING LEVER ON EACH SIDE OF THE LOCKING PLATE, AND RESILIENT MEANS FOR EACH LATCHING LEVER FOR RENDERING THE LEVER OPERATIVE TO ENGAGE AND LOCK THE PLATE PREVENTING ROTATION THEREOF IN A TOGGLE ACTUATED DIRECTION AS THE COCKING LEVER IS OSCILLATED, SAID CAMMING FORMATION ON THE COCKING LEVER HAVING SUCH ACTION AS TO EFFECT A CAMMING OF THAT LATCHING LEVER IN LOCKING CONTACT WITH THE LOCKING PLATE TO RELEASE THE PLATE ONLY AFTER THE COCKING LEVER HAS BEEN OSCILLATED TO AN EXTENT TO FULLY COMPRESS THE COIL SPRING. 